Bloodshot Records - tour-diaryhttps://www.bloodshotrecords.com/tags/tour-diary
enEddie Spaghetti Takes Europe, Part Deuxhttps://www.bloodshotrecords.com/blog/eddie-spaghetti-takes-europe-part-deux
<div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p><em><strong>Eddie Spaghetti</strong>—whose album </em><a href="http://www.bloodshotrecords.com/album/sundowner">Sundowner</a><em> was released earlier this year on Bloodshot—sends us missives from his European tour:</em></p>
<p>So we made it out of England just in the nick of time, I reckon. The kids are losing their ever-lovin' minds over there. There all actin' a fool n' shit what with the rioting and looting and tipping of cars and crap. My last show in the UK was scheduled to be in Birmingham, one of the cities where they had a lot of action and it was cancelled on account of stupidity. Probably for the best. The last thing we need to do is to be dragging our kids into a danger zone of any sort. The upshot of it was we got to pull into Paris a day early and THAT was nice - it was going to be a 9 hour drive from Birmingham (not Alabama) and we were all dreading that action. So, Paris, what a city. After getting into our very small hotel room, we went and had a nice dinner at a restaurant that was next door to the club where I was to be playing. All was well until toward the end of the meal when we were rained down upon by broken glass. Yep, we were sitting next to an area where they stored their wine glasses and someone pushed a few of them off the (unprotected) edge and they all came crashing onto our table.</p>
<p>After the shock wore off, we all checked ourselves to see if there were any cuts and it turns out we were fine as they showered us with apologies. They made nice-nice with us by giving the kids ice cream which was served up in these cute little plastic birds and by replacing our wine—a nice Bordeaux ... so good! Then after a quick stroll around the block we returned to "Chez Tiny Town" where we crammed ourselves into bed. The next day we enjoyed a nice breakfast in our room and then headed out for the Paris Metro. We took the subway to the Louvre and JD and Q went on in while I took the little girl to the park. We were going to go check out the Notre Dame but an amusement park kind of got in the way. Tiny E and I rode the giant slide and the massive ferris wheel while the wife and Quattro perused the massive corridors of The Louvre. When we met back up I asked Q what he had seen in there and he said, "I was surrounded by wangs!" Such an American kid. Anyway, after enjoying the unanticipated day in Paris we were all looking forward to getting to the gig and seeing how the French enjoy the American Alt-Country stylings of good ol' Eddie Spaghetti.</p>
<p>Then, as they say, depression set in... We arrived at the door to the club about 15 minutes after the doors were supposed to be open and alas they were not. There were some signs on the door that said something about Eddie Spaghetti but I didn't really pay too much attention to them. I went next door to the restaurant we ate at the night before and I asked them if there was another entrance to the club. The same waitress from the night before took me outside to the entrance we were already at and read the sign that said "The Eddie Spaghetti show for tonight has been cancelled." I was like, "No way!" and she said, "Why, do you have a ticket?" I said, "No, I'm Eddie Spaghetti!" She laughed and said that she would go inside and call someone from the club. So we walked the gear back to the car and when we came back to the restaurant there was a very nice and very apologetic representative from the promoter who told us that basically the venue cancelled the gig on them because they were nervous about the pre-sale numbers. We tried to explain that my crowd doesn't exactly do the whole pre-sale scene, unfortunately. That the other night in Glasgow they only had about 30 pre-sales and that show was totally sold out, off the hook awesome. Well, being French and all, things are different and so they just pulled the plug and decided not to tell me OR my booking agent (who is still fuming over this fiasco, I'm sure). So after making it clear how sorry he was, this nice French fella gave us some money for dinner and told us that they're still paying for the hotel room and then he bid us adieu. And after talking to my booking agent and finding out that I had indeed been payed for this show, I chalked the whole thing up to the cussing French and their freaky Frenchy ways.</p>
<p>So, that's it for France on this run and now it's all about Germany.</p>
<p>Last night was Cologne, or Koln as it's known here and it was kind of off the hook. The night before we were in Frankfurt and it was definitely a blast - great turnout, great crowd, super fun, super rowdy and loud. PLUS they like to buy the merch! Which is always a nice bonus. The gas prices here are WAY out of control. I don't know who talked them into selling it by the liter, but THAT is a big mistake. Because it's like a Euro and a half for liter of the precious fuel and you see that on the sign and you think, "Wow, it's only a buck fiddy for a gallon of gas." Well, look again cowboy, that ain't no gallon they're selling there, that's like a quarter cup and it's going to add up cussing fast there, hombre. Our first fill up was something like 90 pounds and that's somewhere in the vicinity of 150 American Dollars. Luckily the car we're in gets something like 700 miles a tank, so that's been a plus but still, it's retarded and that merch money sure comes in handy. So, tonight is Speyer, Germany at this cool club I played at before called the Flaming Star and then we have the day off and we're going to on of our favorite places in the whole world - Heidelburg! A cooler town I'm hard pressed to name right now. It's got this awesome castle and the streets are chock full of kick-ass little stores and restaurants. We really can't wait.</p>
<p>Okay, that's enough for now. I gotta go in and check into our hotel now. We've just arrived in Speyer.</p>
<p>Later -<br />
Eddie Spaghetti</p>
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/tags/eddie-spaghetti">eddie-spaghetti</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/tags/tour-diary">tour-diary</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-category field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Category:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/blog/category/general">General</a></div></div></div>Wed, 07 Sep 2011 20:41:37 +0000Bloodshot1861 at https://www.bloodshotrecords.comhttps://www.bloodshotrecords.com/blog/eddie-spaghetti-takes-europe-part-deux#commentsNotes from the Road by Jeremy Mackinder: Episode Onehttps://www.bloodshotrecords.com/blog/notes-road-jeremy-mackinder-episode-one
<div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p><em>Once a month-ish, Jeremy Mackinder, the bassist of <a href="http://www.bloodshotrecords.com/mediakit/whitey-morgan-and-78039s">Whitey Morgan and the 78s</a>, checks in with us to regale a tale from the road ...</em><a href="http://blogshot.bloodshotrecords.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/nftr_logo.jpg"><img class="alignleft size-full wp-image-17" style="margin: 10px;" title="Notes From The Road" src="http://blogshot.bloodshotrecords.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/nftr_logo.jpg" alt="" width="180" height="180" /></a></p>
<p>We’ve for the most part been on the road for the past three years. It does funny things to you. When you spend more time on a van bench than you do on your couch, things get pretty disorienting. Everyday becomes a Saturday and usually all you see is the bar and the hotel of each town. It’s a rare occasion when you actually “tour” a city.</p>
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On our fall tour, we were out for two and half straight months. Usually we’re out for around 3 weeks at a time, then home for a few days. We landed in Chicago about 15 days into the tour and sat down for lunch after stopping by the Bloodshot offices for a minute. Someone asked out loud at the table, “What day is it?” We all kinda looked at each other. It was a Wednesday, not one of us had any clue.</p>
<p>I often pop out of the van on long trips, head to counter and ask the attendant at the gas station, “Where are we?” They always say what town we’re in, which leads to my next question, “No, I mean, what state?” On the last night of the aforementioned fall tour, we were heading back to Michigan from Green Bay. I was exhausted, and passed out in the back seat. We stopped for fuel and I woke up asking, “What time is load in?” It was the ritual.</p>
<p>I never watch the news either on the road. It’ll just end up pissing me off anyway, and there’s plenty of things out there to do that without learning that your gas price is going up another twenty cents this week. Believe me, we know that before anyone else does.</p>
<p>All you think about is where you’re going next, what route your taking there—and the little things become an everyday focus. Like, do we get meals there? What about drinks? Anybody know where we’re staying? That’s your thought process in the morning.</p>
<p>I hope to someday have the experience of walking off a bus (we pass them on the highway sometimes, our heads all turn towards them with looks of desire that I’ll leave to your imagination), into the venue, grab a drink, hit the stage, play the show and head back to the bus after a few more drinks—and not think about anything else. The likelihood of that ever happening is slim to none. One can dream though. Jeremy</p>
<p>When we were in Nashville last week, watching musicians finish a set in one club, then walking down the street to play a set at another club with another group of people—it just ain’t the same. I understand the appeal of it, but, playing for fans of music, which is usually what finds their way to our shows, is the thrill. For bands at our current level, you have to seek us out to know we exist. Playing the Nashville circuit, it’d be like playing for tourists everyday. I don’t think it would feel much different than a cubicle job. I might be wrong, but I don’t want to find out.</p>
<p>So, the road it is. Soaring gas prices, constant repairs on the van, bad fast food, blown tires—and a different town every night. I’m exhausted, what time is load-in?</p>
<p><em>Catch Jeremy and the rest of the 78s <a href="http://www.bloodshotrecords.com/events/artist/3384">on tour now.</a></em></p>
<p>[<em>Road photo via <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/library_of_congress/2178286587/">The Library of Congress</a></em>] </p>
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/tags/tour-diary">tour-diary</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/tags/whitey-morgan-and-78s">whitey-morgan-and-the-78s</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-category field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Category:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/blog/category/notes-road">Notes from the Road</a></div></div></div>Sat, 21 May 2011 00:18:33 +0000Bloodshot1847 at https://www.bloodshotrecords.comhttps://www.bloodshotrecords.com/blog/notes-road-jeremy-mackinder-episode-one#comments